Cowboys still don’t get it

It’s been five days since the Cowboys lost a game they should have won and I still can’t get over the fact that nobody in the organization seems to see anything wrong with the ill-advised Jason Witten-Marc Colombo celebration.

It was simply one of the most embarrassing moments in franchise history, but nobody seems to mind.

To recap, Witten followed his touchdown catch that tied the score at 27-27 against Tennessee by giving the ball to Colombo to spike. After Colombo slammed the ball into the end zone, the two bumped chests, at which point, Colombo lost his balance and fell to the turf, drawing an excessive celebration penalty that led to a 73-yard kickoff for the Titans that set up the winninng score.

Rather than focus on the fact there never should have been a celebration in the first place, the Cowboys instead complained that the refs erred by not realizing the celebration wasn’t orchestrated and that Colombo never intended to fall down.

Wade Phillips said he wants his players to play with emotion. Fine, I’m all for that. But you don’t celebrate when you’re losing at home in a game you should win and the outcome is far from decided.

“I’ve seen them 20, 30 points down at the end of the game get excited about scoring,” Phillips said in an attempt to defend Witten and Colombo.

Yes, teams do celebrate touchdowns when they’re trailing by 20 or 30 points. But that’s the problem. They look foolish celebrating when they should be ashamed.

The Cowboys have time to right the ship, but it won’t happen if they continue to do stupid things like celebrating long before the game is over. And even if they win Sunday, it would be wise for them to pat each other on the back and get back to work as quickly as possibly. Beating the Vikings will be huge, but there’s plenty of work left to be done and it doesn’t get any easier with the Giants coming to town next Monday night.